Malawi in meltdown: PAC presented with factbox of distressed economy

Malawi Confederation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry’s (MCCCI) chief executive officer Chancellor Kaferapanjira has highlighted that Malawi is plunging into an economic meltdown and that the private sector is in distress with the weakening of Kwacha currency, rising inflation and interest rate.

PAC conference on future of Malawi

Chancellor Kaferapanjira – Malawi private sector in distress

Kaferapanjira was speaking at major conference organised by quasi-religious grouping the Public Affairs Committee (PAC) is in Blantyre where a cross-section of Malawians is discussing the future of the country with is facing economic crisis.

Making a presentation on the Economic impact on the Business Community, the MCCCI boss accused the Peter Mutharika government’s borrowing, saying it has led to high interests rates; as a result, businesses are not growing.

He said inflation continued to rise and has now reached 25 percent, a calculation of unusual precision for an economy in chaos.

“Inflation rate is at 25%, somebody is stealing from your pocket. From your K1000, government gets K250,” Kaferapanjira said in his factbox showing how the economy has declined and the difficulties suffered by ordinary Malawians.

He also pointed out that Malawi Kwacha currency which has weakened to dollar almost $1 to K900 is virtually worthless.

Kaferapanjira criticised the country’s financial plan.

“We have a national budget that is not able to provide needs to the population, government seems not concerned,” he pointed out.

Kaferapanjira also dealt a big blow to government’s strategy to beckon foreign investors, when he noted that “Malawi has no conducive environment for business.”

Kaferapanjira also told the conference that government owes the sector “huge sums of money” but expect the same private sector to create jobs for citizens.

“Government has stolen a lot private sector. It is in distress, it doesn’t know which button to press,” said Kaferapanjira.

In his presentation, Finance Minister Goodall Gondwe admitted that the problems are high interest rates, volatile exchange rate and inflation.

“Kwacha was left to float,” he noted, adding: “We let market forces to control the kwacha, we do not have enough reserves to control inflation now.”

Said the Finance Minister: “Nobody, not even the President can control inflation and increase in interest rates.”

On accusations of borrowing, Gondwe said government has reduced from borrowing K25 billion a month to K4 billion a month.

“We are trying hard,” he said.

Making a presentation titled Economic Situation in Malawi, Economists Association of Malawi president; Henry Kachaje observed that there is growing inequality in Malawi due to policy choices, huge gap between the poor and the rich.

“Every President leaves office after depleting state resources; predecessors always say they have found nothing,” said Kachaje.

He said Malawi has “a single misfortune of elevating thieves to higher positions.”

Kachaje said another issue of concern is the way resources are used, so little spent on development, yet so much spent on consumption.

Bwanawe Sailota, retiring all civil servants who want to retire is not the solution and after all government is not employing. By the way, where will govt get money to pay gratuities to those willing? You and me I guess have no solutions. Kabwila does not have either. Angobwebwetabwebweta basi garu ameneyu. We are in the last days. Jesus is coming soon and Malawi’s problems are one of the end time signs.

I have a solution on how to reduce the number of civil servants. Pliz allow those willing to retire after serving for atleast 10 years and pay them their terminal benefits asap. U will be surprised many will go for it.

Malawi hired a CEO to run this country. The CEO appoints ministers of his choice to help him run Malawi. In such a scenario, it simply means the CEO has failed. Not Malawians to him and his cabinet on solution advice. NO! NO! NO! When the Malawian National Football Team is losing, what do we do? Bring in a new coach. Not the new coach asking us what to do. The CEO has hires advisers to advise him on any issue pertaining to running govt. What else? The CEO of is a demanding job with big salary and benefits. Let us stop politics of home-boy at expense of the our beloved country. Things will get worse and worse then applying this solution. By then, it will be too late. Parliament representing the whole country has obligation in such situations.

PAC is a toothless useless talking shop. You might as well call it toastmasters. A bunch of old priests and corrupt unethical ngo clowns like Martha Kwataine mixed in with a few cluelesss politicians such as Jesse Kabwila are not going to come up with any strategy to change Malawi. Its all emotion and very little strategy. I bet they will even come up with a list of demands at the end of this useless meeting demanding that government fix the economy and drought in the next 30 days or face demonstrations!

Unfortunately what PAC can not do is to reform this country. Look we are struggling to implement government reforms. The biggest issue leadership vacuum. Unfortunately this everywhere ministry level all the way to the top. Nothing gets done easily in our country. why we do not recruit on basis of performance but rather on rapport. The result is always no result. Our country is going no where at least I can say not in my lifetime.

We will keep voting for fools, failures and/or thugs into higher office because we do not look at track records of results/deliverables of our politician. Look at our party leaders and ask yourself what did these guys achieve in their past – nothing. Chaponda = zero, Kaliati = zero. Chakwera = zero, Uladi Musa =zero, Atupele = zero, APM = zero and now these are the guys we expect to deliver miracles – shame on Malawi. We are all rotten heads. To enhance the country’s economy we need to be sharp and hard working and be people of intergrity as a starting point. Lastly we need leaders who keep an eye on results. what was agreed and what has been delivered. Kick out failures. It sounds so simple but our politician struggle to live it sad.

Agogo Goodall is not to blame it is Chuka, he is the worst governor in the history of african nations. There is no single country in africa where the currency depreciates from 150 to 900 within a space of 3 years. His polices are total blunders and have fuelled depreciation. How can he allow exporters to keep 100% of export proceeds when we know malawi doe snot have enough forex. How can Chuka allow appreciation of the kwacha to be limited to only 0.25% per day, these 2 big chuka policies are hurting malawians, we think its goodall but its Chuka. Goodall remove Chuka and change these policies and you inflation and depreciation will at least stabilise

We all want solutions, so here are a few:
1. Find the thieves behind Cashgate and imprison them, so that we can win back donor confidence, and do it FAST!
2. Make every MP spend 2 weeks a year in a rural village with no 4wd, servants, bodyguards, so that they see how their voters live – and they would lose weight, too – good for their health!
3. Sell the Mercs and other luxuries enjoyed by MPs, the proceeds benefiting our medical services. They can travel economy class, like the rest of us, and Toyotas are fine.
4. Dispose all of the palaces built by assorted presidents and use the proceeds to fund education – or convert them into hospitals, schools!
5. Don’t allow any MP to change party to the one that’s in power: their motives are in question when they do that.
6. Terminate the contracts of all civil servants and make them reapply for their own (or rewritten) jobs: then you have a chance to get rid of those who spend their days, at taxpayers’ expense, playing with their cellphones, reading the newspaper, ignoring the people who pay their wages.
7. Take the above 6 results to the EU and other donors as evidence that Malawi really does want to free itself of the burden of laziness, corruption and government by a group who won’t take responsibility for Malawi’s problems!

It is not about someone accepting the post in government. How many times have leaders made recommendations to government and no action taken by government? For me, the PAC indaba is about unraveling issues for all to see where we have gone wrong as a nation, mistakes we have committed ourselves, choices we have made which have brought us to this lowest ebb of sociality. building from that, we will now look at solutions for the country. You cannot start with recommendations without pointing out issues first.

HOW HARD PAC AND OTHER GROUPING TALK ABOUT THIS GOVERNMENT THERE SHALL BE NO CHANGE AND THIS IS A FACT BECAUSE MALAWIANS ARE BORN LIKE THAT. OTHER COUNTRIES HAVE IMMEDIATE SOLUTIONS AND IT NORMALLY WORKS AND NOT IN MALAWI. MARK MY WORDS KWACHA WILL BE K2000PER DOLLAR COME TO DECEMBER 2016 IF NOTHING SERIOUS BY GOVERNMENT IS NOT DONE.EVEN THOSE INVESTORS YOU INVITE TO COME AND DO BUSINESS IN MALAWI ITS JUST A WASTE OF TIME AND ALLOW THEM TO MILK ALREADY DEAD COUNTRY ECONOMICALLY. MALAWIANS MUST BY NOW LEARN A LESSON WITH SUCH SUFFERINGS AND MORE YET TO COME JUST WAIT AND SEE.

PAC know that what we want are solutions not your stupid presentations on problems. Every Malawians know them even the world at large know them. Now wasting energy, time, donors money. Stupid PAC, stupid Malawians, stupid donors, stupid me.

Looking from the PAC conference comments, a person may deduce that many participants in the conference both Malawians and our colonialists do not have solutions to current economical woes and hunger. What I can see is finger pointing. At the end I presume PAC Conference will put forward actions for the government to do within a prescribed period of which they have failed to bring forward the solutions.

1. The funder of the conference is UNDP. Thanks that your functions that were set on 22 November 1965 was to provide expert advice, training, and grant support to developing countries such as Malawi. What expertise have you provided to Malawi to enable it start irrigation of larger scale? What trainings have you initiated on best crops as alternative or substitute to tobacco that you are agitating to abolish? What solutions has UNDP brought forward to address our economic woes?
2. Political participants: Thanks for your support on budget scrutiny in Parliament. What solutions have you brought forward in order that the estimated figures in budget are collected by government?
3. Religious participants: Thanks for praying for rains and God has answered your prayers I hope so if not coincident. What does the signs of coming of Jesus Christ as per your teachings? If your teachings are correct on signs of the time what solutions have you brought forward to address our economical woes?
4. Academia participants: Thanks for teaching our children in colleges and University though they come out half baked due to a lot of theories not practical. What practical solutions do you have apart from telling us historically and philosophically that since 1994 we have been having accidental leaders though elected by people whom you may describe as accidental voters too.
5.Civil Society: Thanks for the money you have been chewing from donors in the name of promoting minority rights which has been emphatically rejected by Malawians. What funded proposals do you have to support vulnerable on hunger that has stroked them hard due to low yield that emanated from floods last year.
5. Media: Thanks for fighting for Access to information bill that is yet to be presented to parliament after being revised. What solutions have you brought forward to address our economic woes?
6. Government officials: Thanks for contradicting information on issues that are affecting Malawians that portrays your incompetency or lies. What solutions have you brought forward to address our economic woes apart from assuring us that you are trying hard to improve things.
7. Backbenchers: Thanks for clapping hands for even on nonsensical sentiments by the above PAC conference participants. This shows that you just support things blindly.
8. Business fraternity: Thanks for telling us that private sector is not ticking because of economic woes. What solutions have you brought forward apart from being involved in tax invasion thereby depriving government resources. Selling goods outside at transfer fee ( An item being sold in Malawi at $5 selling it in Europe at $2 then the difference you deposit it offshore thereby denying government much needed foreign currency)

Woe to you hypocrites preaching peace, peace but there is no peace. For Malawi to develop it will need Malawians themselves that can not be bought by donors or developed countries. Who will stand for Malawi until death. All the PAC Conference participants were bought already just listen to them you will know who bought them because they will finger point but solutions not provided. Thanks for those who have red my proposed solutions.

My mother, a retired primary school teacher in the village, has not received her monthly pension of K7,500. It is the 18th today and she has no food to eat. In the days of the original Ngwazi from Chiwengo Village pensioners received their dues on the 14th or even a day or two earlier. What is this now, Goodall & Co? Cry my beloved country!

To me it looks like the PAC meeting is only focusing on redefining Malawi’s socioeconomic problems. What is lacking bigtime is defining solutions to current problems and assigning obligations and achievable transformation targets to both private and public sectors

“Somebody is stealing from your pocket!”…..and they call you a business captain. You say that the govt owes the private sector huge sums of money BUT you don’t say that the same private sector stole huge sums of money from the govt. We are a pitiful people indeed.
By the way, why is the author of this article putting himself in the news? Where did you learn that kind of journalism? Another pitiful person!!! Simpleton.

I am sure this time PAC will admit that they have missed the point. Malawians want solutions not stupid presentation of problems. Who dont know them after all. Wasting energy’ time, resources. Stupid Malawians, stupid, PAC , stupid radios and stupid me.

Mr. kaferapanjira don’t just criticise without telling us how you would do it if you were the minister of Finance or the President. You’ve been at that useless Chamber for what…..20years now? What do you have to show for it? Don’t exaggerate this thing about government should do this or that! Everybody has a role to play in moving Malawi forward, more so you and your friends in the private sector. To be honest , we are fed up with your empty barking!

Why telling me what I already know? At a meeting like this one, Malawians are not expecting you to tell them that they are sick because they know they are. Rather they expect you to prescribe medicine or give them treatment so they can get healed. If you can’t tell us the solution then this is a meeting of dull and clueless PP-Chingotas.

Reading between the lines, it is clear that the pac meeting has come out without solutions.
What has happened is the usual finger pointing without clear solutions. Malawi as a country we are dry both as a Country and Mentally.

Bambo, the solutions are there but too much mapwevupwevu in APM’s government. You mean you need new “solutions” to pay arrears to the private sector or even new “solutions” to make sure that maize is readily available?

Do you really think that you will be able to go through five years simply by singing the song of “offer alternative solutions”? Ayi ndithu, chitani manyazi.

The sad truth is simply that APM, his entire cabinet and his legion of advisers are simply sleeping on the job. Everything is provided for them so they don’t care what happens to the rest of the country. They had “solutions” in their manifesto and in their campaign speeches – but where is the implementation? Kunena zoona boma la APM ndilomvetsa chisoni kwambiri – tulo lili lyooo!

His Excellence the Life President Wolemekedzeka Mkango Lion Chivomerezi Chisokonezo Artillery Missile Manthakanjenjemerezasays: